Just a short time after Police Encounters #2, Police Encounters #3 was etched into my schematic psyche. After being cuffed and thrown in a car, my wife had a difficult time understanding how and why her husband was subjected to such a ridiculous circumstance and violation. It was something that actually put her in fear of losing me. No one would have ever imagined that 11 or 12 years later her unarmed brother (Derrick DD Jones) would be murdered by two Oakland Police officers, not far from his East Oakland barber shop. Read the rest of this entry →

At the age of 29 I worked as a clinician for the Westside Community Mental Health Assertive Community Treatment Program, serving 100 of the top 400 San Francisco men and women suffering from extreme forms of mental health impairment. I had already graduated with my Masters in Counseling, with specializations in Marriage and Family Therapy and School Counseling, and I was working on my doctorate at the University of San Francisco. Additionally I was preaching twice a week at my home Uptown church of Christ congregation and the other two weeks preached somewhere in the Bay Area or California. Read the rest of this entry →

One sunny day in San Francisco I was pulled over by the police on McAllister (between Fillmore & Webster). I had no idea someone had stolen my rear license plate. The calm white veteran officer that pulled me over said someone probably wanted my registration tags. Read the rest of this entry →

I have been silently in reflection about the Michael Brown death at the hand of a Ferguson police officer. The situation brings back previously inflicted traumas of deep injustice and pain. I do not know the facts, but the thematic fabric of yet another unarmed Black male murdered must stop. I intended to write and say more but the heavy burden makes the simple stroke of a keyboard too weighty with bewilderment, pain, and a lack of hope for true systems change.  One thing is clear, the value of Black life is highly undervalued and the Black family and especially the Black male image (regardless educational or socioeconomic status), is feared under virtually every context. Read the rest of this entry →